Note: Home Tour is a new series where we’ll go inside cool homes, condos and apartments and learn from their owners how they approached designing the space. If you’d like to let us into your home, please send two photos and a sentence on why to [email protected] with subject line HOME TOUR.
This week’s homeowner works for OrthoCarolina, a Axios Charlotte advertising partner.
A father of three with a passion for Charlotte and a love of New York City gave the Agenda a look inside his sleek Fourth Ward condo. Here’s the quick scoop on his local wall art, top spots to shop, and coolest home projects—including a splatter paint wall.
The Owner
Who: Blair Primis (44), and—every other week—his children Avery (17), Fletcher (14), and Brady (12)
Job: Vice President of Marketing for OrthoCarolina
His story: Primis, who grew up in New Jersey and moved to North Carolina to attend college at Duke, had been living in South Charlotte since 2007 before purchasing the condo in 2014. “After my divorce I thought, ‘Here’s a chance for me to make a clean break,'” he says. “Having grown up near New York City, I thought it would be fun for me and my family to explore living in an urban environment.”
Condo Breakdown
The space: With three children Primis needed something unusual: A four-bedroom urban condo. “I picked this place for the layout,” he says of the 3,350-square-foot home he bought in 2014. “It has two floors and lots of open space.”
Seeing green: The fourth-floor corner unit, which features two separate balconies, faces in the direction of tree-filled Fourth Ward Park, just a block away. “It’s one of the few spots where I’m almost guaranteed no development to block my view,” says Primis.
Make it modern: The condo was originally a very traditional space. “I had 90 percent of it painted and had all of the carpet removed,” says Primis, who also had the concrete floors stained, added a reclaimed wood wall, stripped the staircase down to steel, and painted the wooden kitchen cabinets in a high glass Wrought Iron shade by Benjamin Moore before adding modern brass handles.
Entertainment center: The condo’s previous owners developed the open space with entertaining large groups in mind. While Primis admits much of his entertaining these days is centered around his kids’ events, he does host the occasional evening with friends. For those nights he’s converted what was the condo’s dining area into the ultimate bachelor bar, complete with a foosball table, television, and craft beer and local kombucha on tap.
Smart home: Primis has a Google Home in his bedroom and kitchen, a Nest thermostat, Eufy home lighting, and a Nanoleaf light panel. “I like the simplicity of it,” he says. “I can come home and with one phrase turn everything on, or I can do it all remotely from my phone.”
Shops and Decor
Skyline views: Opposite his floor-to-ceiling windows and stretching the length of an entire wall is an oversized panoramic photo of the Manhattan skyline at night. “A lot of things in here have something to do with New York City because that was part of the motivation for me to move Uptown,” Primis says. “They’re a tribute to that.”
Gathering moss: The Charlotte crown logo flanked by the home’s latitude and longitude coordinates greets visitors inside Primis’ front door and the words “4th Ward” hang above his bar, both custom crafted from real moss by Charlotte business, The Savage Way. “I love the moss art,” says Primis. “It’s a one-of-a-kind piece, and it’s supporting a local business.”
Wall art: Unsure of how to decorate the tall walls along his staircase, Primis went a playful route and let his oldest daughter and her friends splatter black paint up the white wall. For the wall behind his bar he had a contractor install reclaimed wood from a barn in Banner Elk.
Top shops: Primis purchased much of his decor online. His dining table is from West Elm ($599) with white dining chairs from IKEA ($40). His grey living room couches are from Burrow ($799 each) and his bar stools are from Bartstools.com ($130).
Words to live by: Stenciled across the top of a living room wall is the sentence. “Today is the most important day.” “That is my personal mantra,” says Primis. “We’re so busy doing everything. It’s my reminder to enjoy the moment that you’re in—never take it for granted.”
